- Linda K. Sharp
Linda K. Sharp is a former collegiate
women's basketball coach. Her coaching career spans 31 seasons with stints on all levels from elementary, junior high and high school to the collegiate and professional ranks, and she was inducted into theWomen's Basketball Hall of Fame in2001 .Sharp served as the Head Coach at the
University of Southern California (USC) women's basketball team, known as the "Lady Trojans", for 12 years, compiling a 271-99 won-loss record. She guided the Women of Troy to back-to-back NCAA national championships in1983 and1984 , and a total of three appearances in the Final Four of theNCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship . She earned WCAA Coach of the Year honors, the Wade Coach of the Year, and "Sporting News " Coach of the Year in 1984. While at USC, she was selected as thePac-10 Conference "Coach of the Year" three times.Sharp compiled a 138-85 record in eight seasons at
Southwest Texas State University .Sharp served on NCAA Basketball Rules Committee for seven years.
Sharp's involvement with USA Basketball includes coaching in the 1979 Olympic Festival (silver medal), the 1981 Jones Cup (silver medal) and the 1987 World University Games.
In
1997 , she became the first head coach of theLos Angeles Sparks of theWomen's National Basketball Association . Sharp later assisted her former pupil at USC,Cheryl Miller with thePhoenix Mercury in2000 . Coach Sharp became the Head Coach of the Phoenix Mercury during the remainder of the 2002 season afterCynthia Cooper resigned from the position.In
2001 , Sharp was hired as the Head Coach of the women's basketball team at Concordia University inAustin, Texas . She coached the team for seven years and to 87-87 won-loss record. On September 2008, Sharp announced that she was resigning from the position.Sharp's career head coach record is 496-271 after 27 years coaching NCAA women's basketball.
References
* [http://athletics.concordia.edu/athletics.cfm?page_ID=48 Head Coach - Linda K. Sharp] at athletics.concordia.edu
* [http://athletics.concordia.edu/article.cfm?newsID=1124 Press release of Sharp's resignation]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.